“Found it,” he hollered and bounced into the kitchen.
“All right, go get in the car. I’m grabbing my purse and I’ll be right out.”
It took me a few minutes to get his bike loaded on the rack mounted to the back of my car. I was glad Caitlyn rode with him. I wasn’t very good at committing to regular rides. I had my bike, and we did go for a few rides, but it wasn’t my favorite activity.
We got to Joss’s house to find Caitlyn waiting outside on the front porch. “Jace!” she shouted when he climbed out of the car. They were chattering away as I unloaded his bike.
“Let’s go,” Caitlyn hollered.
“Helmets,” Joss and I said at the same time.
There was some grumbling, but the kids suited up and rode up and down the road. I sat down in the lawn chair in her front yard. “He was so excited to get to ride today,” I said. “Thank you for suggesting it.”
“I guess him and Caitlyn talked about it at school this week.”
“Your neighborhood is much safer for riding bikes,” I said with a laugh. “I don’t dare let him out on his own in my area.”
“He’s always welcome here. Why don’t you leave his bike here and they can ride after school?”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes. Absolutely. It’s good for them.”
“Thanks.”
“Has it been another wild week?” she asked as she sipped on her lemonade.
“That’s an understatement. I have a confession to make. A really, really bad confession.”
“Uh oh, that sounds bad.”
“It is,” I said. I couldn’t look at her. I was so ashamed of what I did.
“What’s going on?”
“I slept with Nash.”
Her mouth dropped open. “How? When? Why?”
I sighed and hung my head for a minute. “I think the how is pretty clear. It was Tuesday morning in his office.”
“Oh my god. Give me a second to get my head around this.”
“I’m terrible,” I moaned.
“I don’t understand how this happens. You hated him the last time we talked.”
“I don’t know that I hate him, but I don’t like him.”
“Same thing,” she said. “How did you fall into bed with him?”
“It was on his desk actually.”
“In your office!” she gasped. “Who are you and what have you done with my friend?”
“It wasn’t in my office. Not at the tax firm. In his office at his headquarters building.”
She shook her head. “I guess that’s a little better. But I’m still confused. I really got the impression you didn’t like him.”
“I don’t. Not really. It was a weird moment. I looked at him and I remembered everything from before.”
“I knew you guys were hot and heavy before,” she said with a laugh.
“It wasn’t like that. It was not one of my finer moments in life. He was married.”
Her mouth dropped open. I couldn’t see her eyes behind her sunglasses, but I knew she was pissed. “You had an affair with a married man?”
“No, no,” I quickly corrected. “He wasn’t married when we were together. I didn’t know it, but apparently, he was engaged or almost engaged. I didn’t listen to the excuses. One day, we were doing our thing, and the next, he was married.”
“Did the wife find out?”
I shrugged. “I have no idea. As soon as I figured out he was in a relationship, I ended things. He never mentioned her. I had no idea. You have to believe me when I say I didn’t know. When I saw his picture in the paper, my first reaction was that he cheated on me. Then I figured out it was the other way around.”
“Wow. Now I hate him.”
“What if he is still married?” I asked. “It has been driving me crazy. I cannot be a homewrecker.”
“You don’t know if he’s married?”
I shrugged. “He wasn’t wearing a ring. He is tanned and I didn’t see a tan line on his finger. He doesn’t act like he is married.”
“He didn’t act like he was engaged either,” she muttered.
“Don’t hate me,” I said. “You know I don’t do that.”
“Can you tell me why you slept with him?”
I thought about it and shook my head. “No, I can’t. I wish I could. I wish there was some magic answer. The truth is, I just did what I wanted. He was looking at me and we were alone. That familiar feeling came over me, and I thought, just one kiss. I was going to kiss him one time and see if those old feelings came back. They did. Good